The Use of Satire in Du Bois' 'A Mild Suggestion'

This essay analyzes the use of satire in Du Bois' essay "A Mild Suggestion" and explores why satire is an effective rhetorical strategy in his work.

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English Essay
Find two academic sources devoted to "satire" then use this research to analyze how satire
functions in Du Bois "A Mild Suggestion." Why might this use of satire be an effective
rhetorical strategy in Dubois essay?
Introduction
The discussion analyses the use of satire in Du Bois essay "A Mild Suggestion." Different
authors have argued differently on the aspect of satire when writing a story (Connell, 78). Some
authors describe satire as a form of making humor while others acknowledge satire as a mode of
criticizing a particular issue in society. The two academic sources describing on satire are;
Miller, Stuart S., et al. "Savage or satire: Individual differences in perceptions of disparaging and
subversive racial humor." Personality and Individual Differences 142 (2019): 28-41. The second
source is Caron, James E. "Satire Today: An Introduction to the Special Issue." Studies in
American Humor 5.1 (2019): 6-12.
Basically, satire is the technique which is used by writers to either expose or criticize
foolishness and corruption of a society or even an individual. Most writers use satire inform of
humor, irony and exaggeration and ridicule so as to criticize foolish and foibles when writing. In
"A Mild Suggestion" Du Bois uses fictional characters to pass information to the audience. As

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usual, writers tend to point satire towards the person, a country and even the entire world (Bones,
120).Therefore, the issue of satire one can argue that it is a comical piece of writing which
employs an aspect of the fun of a person or even society so as to expose the issue of stupidity and
shortcomings experienced. The aim of satire is to ensure those who have been affected by the
criticism will improve their weaknesses or try as much as possible to overcome. The discussion
on "A Mild Suggestion" will account all these features and the reasons why satire is being
identified as the rhetorical strategy in Dubois work (Singh, 12).
In addition satire is used in different fields .There is political satire whereby the writer can direct
the satire to different individuals within the country and even outside the country (Connell, 178).
The aspect of political satire is common and it’s of much significant. For example, the use of
modern graphics of cartoons to represent a certain ideology in a nation is a form of satire in
political arena. The other type of satire is found in literature. All the contents available for
readers are full of satire. For example the Shakespeare comedy is full of satire .Also, authors
such as the Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett used satire in their work such as in tropes of
science fiction that was connected to the modern satire (Connell, 200). In addition, the current
films and television employs the issue of satire when communicating to the audiences. This
shows that films and television are controlled by the experts who have masterly of satire. There
are all comedy in all kinds of programs offered in the television which have passages constructed
through the satire (Holbert, 12). For example, the classic films such as the Dr.Strangelove and
some concepts in modern work like the Birdman we can notice how they address contemporary
issues like the celebrity culture and racism by the use of satire all the way in their discussion.
The last area full of satire is the online work. The internet users loves to use the satire when

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communicating to the targeted individuals. Some of the most technical issue in the online always
uses satire. For example, most of videos in YouTube Series uses satire.
Discussion
Generally, Du Bois narrative "A Mild Suggestion" basically attempts to ensure a certain response
to the audience. The inclusion of passenger's reactions to the colored man's story to some degree
indicates the aspect of satire. The writer generally affects the total understanding of the reader to
the story. Without description on the final part of the narrative one may not get the intended
message (Holbert, 18).The message is categorical in the sense that if one interprets the content
wrongly then the purpose of colored man's story will be of no benefits and the message will be
misconstrued. Du Bois includes satire to ensure he leads the audience and structures reactions
more thoroughly in the story.
Satire in “A Mild Suggestion “story is explained in different ways. At first, by establishing the
reactions of characters in the final part of the essay it's clear that Du Bois purpose in
characterization was to boost the apparent reaction to the reader. The Little Old Lady impacts the
audience in satire form. At the beginning of the story, we can see that the Little Old Lady is not
much concerned about sitting beside the "colored man" in the story (Harrington, 19). The Little
Old Lady at first she condemns the "bad habits" of the colored man but we can see her sitting
beside her. At this point, the Little Old Lady mentions an aspect of stupidity and foolishness
whereby her behavior has been explained in a satirical manner. This means that the lady is
presented as prejudice towards the colored man in a satirical manner. After this, there is an
established context which helps in interpreting the final reaction in a satirical way. The Little Old
Lady also illustrates the aspect of satire in the final essay when he went silently to her cabin
having tears in her eyes (Hill, 290). The satirical part is that the Little Old lady is not angry with

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the colored man but she is upset about the story. Indeed she is a suppressed woman and she was
sad about the story and that's why she came to identify the colored man's plight. Also, one can
say that the woman is teary-eyed because he believes that other people have missed the satirical
part of the story. The issue is that the writer has indicated how the audience feels sorry to the
Little Old Lady by explaining it in a satirical manner in the essay.
The satirical reaction of the Lady also develops pathos to the reader and this forces one to
consider the meaning of the colored man's story. This shows that the reader is affected by the
reaction of the woman and southerner (Lee & Nojin, 90).The writer tries to describe the unity of
the two characters in a satirical manner. The writer says that the two characters were heard
saying "heard to say something about fools". The reader remains to ask who the fools are in the
entire context. Are the fools described by the characters the southerners and woman after having
listened story? The satirical part of the story is are the fools emancipated colored man? The word
fool is used in a more satirical manner. The reader does not want to be dumped into the real fool
as in the case of the southerner. It's satirical on how Dubois has presented the woman as a weak
follower in the context (Zemanek, 56).
The satirical as a linguistic device has helped in designing an appropriate message to the
audience. Is shows that Dubois tries to reveal some aspects in society inform of humor? For
example, DuBois has presented the aspect of foolishness in a satirical manner. The issue is that
Dubois reveals that the reader does not want to be associated with the characters. For instance,
the audience neither accepts the Woman nor the Southerner. This has been described in a
satirical manner so as give sense to people in society (O'Brien, 50).At first, one can trace the
impact of Westerners and how they reacted to the final context. At first, the reader mumbles for
not in the position to "account for the tastes" thus referring to the Little Old lady. This comment

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shows how there is negative light on the Little Old Lady since she was connected to the person
who was associated with feebleness and weakness.
Also, the issue of satire has helped Dubois to reaffirm values and morals which need s necessity
for reform. For instance, the New Yorker is unable to demonstrate the issue of hypocrisy
although he had a gist of the entire story (O'Brien, 90).Dubois presents this concept in a satirical
manner so as to teach individuals that they should react but not to react in an ironic solution. The
Little Old Lady has knowledge of the story but Dubois shows that he can do nothing. In the
story, we can see the New Yorker smiling and one can think he is laughing because of the nature
of tory but this not. The difference between him and Westerner is that he cannot understand the
satirical part of the story.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Dubois has used the concept of satire to reveal different values within society. In
simple words, satire helps writers to communicate the normal behavior experienced by human
beings. At the end of the story, we can see the reaction of passengers which is not ending in a
penultimate manner. At this section Dubois dictates to the reader that there is a need to react and
always not to react in an ironic way. Therefore, one can conclude that satire is part of the major
theme in the narrative "A Mild Suggestion " since it has helped in including the entire
description of passengers and the reactions to the colored man's story (Simpson, 28).Without the
use of satire, the story could be interpreted differently thus its inclusion helps to ensure the intent
colored man's story is not misconstrued in the narrative.

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Work cited
Bones, Arina K. "We knew the future all along: Scientific hypothesizing is much more accurate
than other forms of precognition—A satire in one part." Perspectives on Psychological
Science 7.3 (2012): 307-309.
Connell, Ellen G. Soulmates: A phenomenological study of women who believe they knew their
romantic partner in a previous lifetime. Alliant International University, 2012.
Harrington, Stephen. "The uses of satire: Unorthodox news, cultural chaos and the interrogation
of power." Journalism 13.1 (2012): 38-52.
Hill, Megan R. "Breaking Boundaries| Developing a Normative Approach to Political Satire: A
Critical Perspective." International Journal of Communication 7 (2013): 14.
Holbert, R. Lance. "Breaking boundaries| Developing a normative approach to political satire:
An empirical perspective." International Journal of Communication 7 (2013): 19.
Lee, Hoon, and Nojin Kwak. "The affect effect of political satire: Sarcastic humor, negative
emotions, and political participation." Mass Communication and Society 17.3 (2014): 307-328.
O'Brien, Colleen C. "" What Mischief Would Follow?": The Emersons, Haiti, and Romantic
Racialism." ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 58.2 (2012): 219-254.
Simpson, Tyrone. "The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead." Callaloo 40.2 (2017):
183-186.
Singh, Raj Kishor. "Humour, irony and satire in literature." International Journal of English and
Literature (IJEL) 3.4 (2012): 65-72.

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Zemanek, Evi. "A Dirty Hero’s Fight for Clean Energy: Satire, Allegory, and Risk Narrative in
Ian McEwan’s Solar." Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment 3.1
(2012).